FREE ART
- OR FREE THE ART ?
Arnvid Aakre, 2025
The concept of "historical time" begins in different cultures with the emergence of the written word.
In ancient Egypt, this occurred around 5,000 years ago – and the written word was expressed through pictorial language. In this classical period of ancient Egypt, artists were dependent on commissions from the powerful: depictions for the tombs and temples of rulers and for the graves of the nobility.
In the artisans’ village (Deir el-Medina) in Luxor, artists could work on their own tombs after completing a ten-hour workday painting the pharaoh’s “travel guide through the Amduat” (underworld/afterworld) inside the rock-cut tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
Although the decorations in their personal tombs primarily served the purpose of ensuring safe passage for themselves and their families through the afterlife, one can trace individual artists here in a freer and more personal form than in their official commissions. This village existed from the 18th Dynasty to the end of the 20th Dynasty (approx. 1550–1080 BCE).
In the classical period of European history, artists from that era – such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) and their contemporaries – were also dependent on powerful patrons. The aristocracy served as patrons, and the Church exerted strong control over the arts.
Later, artists like William Blake (1757–1828) and Francisco Goya (1746–1827) introduced social critique and chose to work more independently, thereby helping to detach art from commissioned work and “decoration.”
Even so, the academies and collectors still retained significant power.
Around the 1850s, artists like Van Gogh worked completely outside the constraints of the market – despite the fact that his brother was an art dealer.
Monet and the Impressionists broke clearly with academic authority. Both paved the way for what was to come.
In the 20th century, artists like Hilma af Klint, Kandinsky, Picasso, and many others took the idea of free art a step further – but by then, museums and curators had begun to amass more influence.
After the 1960s, installation and conceptual art emerged with the idea that art is primarily based on ideas. Artists like Joseph Beuys declared that “everyone is an artist,” aiming to break down the boundary between art and life.
Marcel Broodthaers explored, often with irony, the curator’s and museum’s role as power structures. Marina Abramović, through performance, challenged both the audience and institutions – though painting did see a modest resurgence in Europe in the late ’70s and through the ’80s.
There are also clear differences between European and American art. In the U.S., star curators like Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg were able to dominate the art narrative with virtually unchecked power.
See, for example, The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe, or a more recent take in David Balzer’s Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else.
Today, there are several star curators (and many wannabe star curators) across the board. They do not purchase art themselves but act as catalysts for investment in private and institutional collections.
The looming threat for them is that if they cannot demonstrate an increase in the value for the art they recommend, they quickly lose their position
These star curators function in practice as advisors to a kind of art stock exchange – with art as a vehicle for speculation.
NB: This of course does not apply to the majority of curators – but one would have to be quite naïve not to see how this tendency is influencing the art industry.
One of the first to flee the Western art market was Paul Gauguin. Marcel Duchamp also withdrew almost entirely from the art world, rejecting the market, the career path, and curatorial control.
Many others could be mentioned, but Banksy is a strong contemporary example. What unites such artists is their refusal to adapt to the logic of sales, forcing the question: what is art, really?
Personally, I went to Egypt in 1990 and stayed until 2003 – far away from the Western art industry. I did not return to lick the backs of star curators, but because my eldest daughter was starting school – and the education system, all in all, is better here than in Egypt.
From da Vinci to Banksy, a profound shift has taken place. It’s a natural development: power has moved from the visible hands of kings and churches to today’s more diffuse battle over control of free art.
We are already seeing clear signs – such as during the Trump administration in the U.S., where “dangerous” art was proposed for censorship, echoing attitudes from before World War II.
Here in Norway, we have seen attacks on art under the label of “non-art.”
It is in this context I hope that artists, curators, and art historians – regardless of position – can stand together in the fight for free art.
I don’t know if it’s possible, but it’s certainly worth hoping for – and even more, worth trying to influence so that it might happen.
